People vs. Flores: Weeks 1 and 2

You're listening to a special bonus series of the Your Own Backyard podcast, titled People vs. Flores, a weekly recap of the murder trial of Paul and Ruben Flores. Since filming and audio recording aren't currently allowed inside the courtroom, these episodes will recount handwritten notes taken by host Chris Lambert, breaking from our typical documentary format.

in an effort to get updates out as regularly and succinctly as possible. These recaps will likely contain subject matter that may be graphic and disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. you

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Pueverell stood behind a podium as he addressed the 12 members of Paul Flores' jury and their eight alternates. Quote, 1,359. That's the number of Sundays that have passed since Kristen Smart last spoke to her family. Puvrell explained that the Smart family had a ritual every Sunday, gathering around their home phone back in Stockton to talk to Kristen.

while she was attending Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. But on Sunday, May 26, 1996, Kristen's call never came. Instead, on that Sunday morning at 9.47 a.m., Quote, Paul Flores, Puvrel nearly shouted, with his finger pointed at Paul's face, was calling his father, Ruben Flores, for help. He pointed across the courtroom at Ruben, who sat in the audience next to his wife, Susan. None of them showed any visible reaction, and Susan kept her eyes down, writing in her notebook.

Puvrel continued, quote, While the entire community banded together to look for Kristen Smart, Paul and Ruben Flores did not. Instead, you will hear that Ruben Flores would tear down missing posters of Kristen and call her a dirty slut, all while Kristen's body was decomposing under his deck. He told the jury that Stan Smart spent hundreds of hours searching for Kristen in San Luis Obispo County, eventually making his way to Ruben Flores' home in Arroyo Grande.

There, Rubin allegedly told Stan, quote, you better get out of here, or somebody might get shot. From there... Purell walked the jury through the case he intends to present through witness testimony over the next several months. A witness who was close to Kristen during the time she lived in the Mirror Hall dorm, who once saw Paul Flores in Kristen's dorm room,

in the spring of 1996, quote, she was uncomfortable, and he was uninvited. Another witness, who observed Paul staring at Kristen intently at parties, which made their whole friends group uncomfortable. Pivrell explained to the jury that Kristen's friend Margarita split off from Kristen just before she attended a party on Crandall Way around 10pm, and that at the time, Kristen was sober.

Another witness will testify that at that same party, Paul Flores forced himself on her twice to kiss her. Another witness spoke briefly to Kristen, and afterwards, Paul came up to him. and mentioned that Kristen was good-looking. Several witnesses will testify that they saw Paul and Kristen together and talking several times at that party, something that Paul denied when he was interviewed by police the following week.

Other witnesses will recount how they saw Kristen incapacitated in the dirt between the party house and the neighbor's house and had to help her up because she was unable to stand on her own. Tim and Cheryl

two of the party attendees, started to walk Kristen back to the dorms when Paul Flores, quote, came out from the darkness and offered to help. Pivrell told the jury that Tim will testify, that Paul took control of Kristen, telling him, quote, I've got her, and that once Tim went back to the party house, Paul, Kristen, and Cheryl continued towards the dorms, with Paul stopping several times along the way, telling Cheryl, When they finally split up at the intersection of Perimeter and Grand,

Puvril said Cheryl will testify that Paul asked her for a kiss, which she refused. He then asked her for a hug, which she also refused. The last time Cheryl saw Paul and Kristen, they were walking east. towards his dorm building. Puvrell told the jury that two friends of Kristen's roommate slept in her room in Muir Hall that night and said that Kristen never came back. Quote, Kristen Smart never made it home that night.

and all she had on were literally the clothes on her back. A gray crop top, black Roxy shorts, and red Puma shoes.

Pivrell explained the layout of Paul's dorm building, and how a vehicle is able to pull up directly to his back window. After separating from Cheryl around 2-2.30am, Pivrell said Paul was completely unaccounted for. until 6 p.m. the following night, when he went to the movies with some friends. A friend of Paul's will testify that he saw Paul with a bruise under his right eye that Sunday.

Puvrell explained that Paul's roommate was out of town from Friday until Tuesday, and that Paul knew he had three full days alone in that dorm room. As an observer, the Paul Flores sitting in the courtroom today is gaunt and fragile-looking. Ruben Flores, sitting in the audience, is 81 now. So on the courtroom projector, Puvrel showed the jury their driver's license photos from 1996.

Paul was 19. Reuben was 55. The men in court were not the men who committed the crimes they're charged with, Pirell explained. The men on the screen were.

He projected an aerial map and explained to the jury that Ruben Flores' home is only 12 miles south of the Cal Poly campus, with two highways between them. Puyrell said that on May 28, 1996, Paul told the Cal Poly police officer that Kristen was having trouble walking, though he would later tell police that they separated between the two dorm buildings, and she walked uphill on her own, without help.

He also allegedly told this officer that he was not attracted to or interested in Kristen, though several other witnesses told the police that Paul was fixated on Kristen. He told them that his black eye... which the officer asked about, was from a basketball game he had played with friends that Monday. Another Cal Poly officer wrote in his report that when he first interviewed Paul in his dorm room, he could see his heart beating out of his chest.

in contrast to dozens of other people he had interviewed that same week. Purell also told the jury that at one point during his interview with Cal Poly Police, Paul slipped up and said, quote, when we got back to my dorm, rather than when I got back to my dorm. Purell then played a video clip for the jury. taken from a tape filmed in June of 1996 at a party immediately following Arroyo Grande High School's graduation. One of the partygoer's mothers is teasing her son's friend,

saying she didn't expect to hear his name called at the graduation ceremony. She then turns the camera toward Paul Flores, who's sitting at a table and laughing. She asks, quote, What about you, Paul? Are we going to see you walk at Cal Poly in four years? Paul laughs and says, No way. Another guy chimes in, quote, Walking into court, maybe. The mother then asks, quote, What do you know about that missing girl?

What did you do with her, Paul? Paul's smile fades immediately. Nothing, he says, and hangs his head, looking down at the table as she turns the camera away. Pivrell then told the jury that Paul Flores sat for his last interview with investigators in June of 1996. And on that occasion, he said that Kristen Smart was walking just fine on her own, and that he got his black eye.

while working on his truck. He played a clip from this interview, in which Paul admits to the investigators that he lied about his black eye, but says it was, quote, a fib, just a little white lie. Purell said that jurors will hear from three cadaver dog handlers, whose dogs all alerted to Paul Flores' dorm room mattress in June of 1996. The canvas cover taken from that mattress...

had a tiny light brown stain on it, which he said tested positive in a presumptive test for human blood. A DNA analysis was unable to definitively identify Kristen Smart as a contributor. but it was also unable to exclude her as a contributor. Puvrell said that jurors will also hear from a witness, who saw Paul Flores twice in the summer of 1996, and that she will testify that Paul told her that he buried Kristen Smart under his place in Wozna.

Pivrel then walked the jury through the accounts of three women, who will be allowed to testify under California Evidence Code 1108 because their experiences with Paul Flores closely mirror the charges against him regarding Kristen Smart. The first woman will testify that she encountered Paul at a Redondo Beach bar in 2007. After leaving her drink unattended when she went out to smoke a cigarette, she returned and finished the drink.

After blacking out, she woke up in a strange house, completely naked. She went directly to a hospital, where a rape kit was administered. A swab taken from her vagina. was later matched to a DNA sample from Paul Flores. The second woman will testify that she was leaving a bar in Lawndale in 2008 when Paul offered to take her home.

He took her to his place. Sound familiar? Puvrel asked the jury. After drinking a glass of water at Paul's house, the woman says she doesn't remember what happened next, but she does remember a red ball gag. with black straps being forced into her mouth and sobbing while she was being sodomized. Later, she says she found a phone number in her phone that she didn't enter. The phone number for Paul Flores.

When she was interviewed by investigators, she identified a picture of Paul Flores in a photo lineup, but said she couldn't be 100% sure. When shown a photo of his unique front yard, she said, quote, That's where I was taken. The third woman will testify that she drove herself to Paul's house, which she described as a hoarder house. During sex, she says she drifted in and out of consciousness, but remembers Paul using a red ball gag with black straps.

She says she told him to stop, but he continued against her will and seemed to be, quote, enjoying my pain. The next morning, she says she told him, when someone says no, it means no. And Paul hung his head in shame. Purell reminded the jury that this was the same way Paul responded when asked on video what he did with that missing girl. Purell then played audio for the jury.

taken from a wiretapped phone call between Paul and Susan Flores in January of 2020. In the clip, Susan says, quote, Another thing I need you to do is to start listening to the podcast to see where we can punch holes in it. wherever we can punch holes. Maybe we can't. You, you're the one that can tell me. Pirot revealed to the jury that when a search warrant was executed at Ruben Flores' home on February 5th, 2020,

investigators found, quote, a smorgasbord of items pertaining to Kristen Smart in Rubin's bedroom. A photo on the courtroom projector showed Rubin's bed with the items spread out. including missing posters and letters from the Smart family going back to 1996. Puvrell told the jury that a witness will testify that four days after that February 2020 search, She saw a cargo trailer being backed up alongside Ruben's house.

Susan Flores and her boyfriend Mike McConville were both present and agitated, and remained at Ruben's house all night, which she said had never happened before. Purrell noted that photos taken before and after this incident will show that a fence was removed along the side of Rubin's house to give the cargo trailer access to the backyard.

in an area of the property that is shielded from view by trees and bushes. During a follow-up search of Rubin's property in March of 2021, Puvel said that ground-penetrating radar located a six-foot by four-foot anomaly under the deck of the house, which he noted for the jury is, quote, the shape of a grave. Cadaver dogs also showed a notable change of behavior in that area.

So law enforcement began to dig. And two and a half feet below the surface, an archaeologist noted dark staining, consistent with stains left behind when a body decomposes.

identified in her report as a, quote, Puvrel said the archaeologist will testify that the area was consistent with a human burial site, where the body had been wrapped in a tarp or something similar, which allowed for seepage of fluids into the soil, but kept bones, hair, clothing, and other pieces contained until they were dug up and removed. Pouvrel also noted that a serologist will testify that testing of those dark soil stains came back positive for the presence of human blood.

Purell said that investigators later seized Mike McConville's cargo trailer from Ruben Flores' yard, and it was forensically tested using Blue Star. According to their website, Blue Star is a blood-visualizing agent. similar to luminol, which glows bright blue when it comes into contact with blood. The analyst's report noted that an area on the floor of that cargo trailer, quote, lit up like a Christmas tree.

One noted substance that could cause a false positive with Bluestar is bleach, which Purell noted could be just as significant, since the trailer was incredibly dirty and only one large spot on the floor lit up. With this, Pivrell told the jury that at the end of all testimony, he expects them to find Paul Flores guilty of the murder of Kristen Smart. After a half-hour break,

Paul's jurors returned for defense attorney Robert Sanger's opening statement. Quote, This obviously is a tragic situation in one way or another, he opened, adding that there is, quote, no evidence of what happened to her, and alleging that law enforcement knew they didn't have a case. He explained to jurors that there are no eyewitnesses and no forensic evidence. Quote,

There's a lot of sort of evidence. Sanger told the jury that whatever they think about Paul Flores' alleged sexual assaults in recent years, it does not fill in the blanks of what happened to Kristen Smart. He said that not everything was wonderful in the Smart family, and Kristen was engaged in, quote, at-risk behavior, such as getting into cars with guys and telling people she was a model when she wasn't.

Sanger told the jury that Kristen indicated to others that she wanted to leave and be a model, but added, quote, Sanger explained that Ruben Flores saved missing posters and newspaper articles about Kristen Smart because of a, quote, concerted media campaign in San Luis Obispo, and said that for 25 years, Ruben Flores has been essentially assaulted at his own home by people who yell and chant things. He said the same is true for Susan Flores, who lives nearby with her friend.

Mike McConville. Sanger said that law enforcement got a wiretap warrant for the Flores family's phones, and Detective Clint Cole, quote, Sanger suggested that the podcaster was, quote, targeted by Detective Cole to say provocative things. Regarding the clip of Susan Flores played earlier by Puvril, Sanger said that, quote, Susan Flores tends to talk a lot,

and during the 27-minute phone call, he concluded, quote, the best they have is this one snippet. Sanger said that the ground-penetrating radar operator and the archaeologist who will testify only, quote, have their master's degrees, not PhDs, end quote. And added that he's planning to present evidence from a, quote, PhD professor who uses pig carcasses, but he's familiar with the body farm in Tennessee.

End quote. He said if a body had been buried in the area under Ruben Flores' deck, quote, you would expect to find hair, fibers, bones, end quote. Sanger also explained that law enforcement has been pressuring Paul Flores for years to make a confession, going so far as to introduce an undercover FBI agent to his jail cell when he was serving time for a DUI in 2002.

According to Sanger, this undercover agent maintained a friendship with Paul after his release, taking him to Catalina Island, a very fancy restaurant in Vegas, and a trip to Oklahoma. where the agent allegedly introduced Paul to Dennis Rodman, who took him for a ride in his limousine. All of this, Sanger said, was in an effort to get Paul to confess, though he said Paul never changed his story.

She went that way, he went that way. He's always said it. End quote. Sanger told the jury that quote, we will have an actual scientist, a PhD who is an expert in dog behavior. He studied birds, studied other things, end quote. He said that in contrast to this PhD, the prosecution's dog handler witnesses are, quote, a lot older now.

and said that the California Rescue Dog Association is, quote, a private club and they all certify each other. They're volunteers, and it's very nice that they do this. Bless their hearts. End quote. Sanger said that his expert will testify that, from a forensic science standpoint, a dog alert is, quote, nothing but a clue, end quote.

He suggested that when Cal Poly police came to interview Paul in his dorm room, quote, they're not preserving the scene. They're not wearing booties. End quote. Sanger said that after cadaver dogs alerted to Paul's dorm room, Their handlers, quote, went back up to their little club and called their guru and discussed the case with them and asked what they should put in their report. End quote.

Sanger then told the jury that a witness in 2002 came forward to her friend, saying something like, That friend then told the witness in 2019, You've got to come forward. You've got the tip that's going to break this case. End quote. Sanger said the witness then met with the podcaster who is obsessed with this case and who gets a lot of attention for the podcasts he issues about how Paul Flores is guilty. Sanger said that the podcaster was given evidence of trucks by a sheriff's detective.

And the podcaster then gave the witness that info and said, quote, Now go tell your story to the police, but don't tell them I talked to you. End quote. Finally, Sanger touched on the cargo trailer, seized from Ruben Flores' property, saying that the witness who reported seeing it parked alongside Ruben's house a few days after the February 2020 search.

made the story up because she was, quote, getting very annoyed with all the traffic that goes by Ruben Flores' house, so she comes up with this story, end quote. Sanger said she then went to the plaintiff's lawyer's office, where a billboard advertised a reward, and told them, quote, end quote.

Sanger told the jury that there's a rational explanation for why Mike McConville's trailer was moved alongside Rubin's house. Quote, Sanger added that a luminol reaction may have shown something the size of a body on the floor of that trailer, but quote, Everything's the size of a body in this case. End quote. Sanger closed his opening statement at 2.25pm. After a 20-minute break,

Ruben Flores' jurors and alternates were brought in, and the state presented their opening arguments again, mirroring much of the first opening. One new detail that Paul's jury didn't get to hear… was that during a DNA swab in 2021, Ruben Flores read the search warrant affidavit that authorized it, and noted that Susan Flores and Mike McConville were also going to be swabbed for DNA.

In response, he allegedly asked Detective Clint Cole, quote, Why are you taking their DNA? They didn't commit a felony. Only I did. End quote. rested his second opening statement at 4.15 p.m. Rubin's defense attorney, Harold Misik, said that he had only requested 15 minutes for his response.

But, quote, I didn't know counsel was going to try this case in front of the jury, end quote, implying that Puvrel had gone overboard by presenting all of the details he did, rather than simply an overview of the case.

Misik asked for a sidebar, and after two minutes, Judge O'Keefe returned to the bench and excused the jurors, asking them to return the next morning for Misik's opening statement. That Tuesday morning, Reporters waited in line to be let into the courthouse before being told just before 9am that the trial had been delayed by, quote, an unexpected illness.

Another reporter was told that the delay was due to, quote, a health concern. By noon, courthouse staff had walked back the reason for the delay, telling another reporter, quote, is that the Flores trial has been unexpectedly continued to Thursday. That Thursday, defense attorney Harold Misik started his opening statement just after 9am, but the reason for the two-day delay

was never explained or discussed again. Misik opened by telling the jury, quote, This case is tragic, and it's tragic for everyone. Kristen Smart is missing, and we don't know what happened. It's unimaginable to me as a father. End quote. He then explained that his client, Ruben Flores, has been hounded, assaulted, and chased out of restaurants through what he called 26 years of hell.

and added that after all of the investigations, including, quote, seers and wonder dogs, the result is, we still don't know what happened. End quote. Misik asked the jury to take notes in their notebooks during the state's presentation of evidence, and quote, at the end, if you have an empty notebook, I'll ask you to return a not guilty verdict. End quote. He accused prosecutors of attempting to flip-flop the evidence and use it against my client by quote, shading the evidence.

Misik said there's no mystery about Ruben Flores' activities over Memorial Day weekend 1996. On Saturday, Misik said Ruben Flores spent the day at the Arroyo Grande Strawberry Festival, alone. On Sunday, he picked his son up and took him home to work on his truck. I won't editorialize here. Instead, you can compare that to Ruben's previous statements about that weekend.

which I discussed in episode 8 of this podcast. Something else that might not be obvious without pointing it out is that Misik and Sanger were not in the courtroom to hear each other's opening statements. They also don't work for the same law firm, so it's likely that they didn't confer with each other regarding their opening statements.

Misik told the jury that there's also no mystery about why Mike McConville's trailer was moved to Rubin's property in February of 2020. Quote, Mr. McConville's trailers were being vandalized where they were parked. The Facebook posse was all over him. That's why they were moved to Rubin's house. End quote. Again, you can compare that to Sanger's assertion about why the trailer was moved there.

Misik also spoke about the witness who saw that cargo trailer being parked on the property, saying, quote, you'll hear from the neighbor. This is like a hobby of hers. End quote. Misik repeatedly brought up that there's quote no evidence in this case, explaining that Rubin's home sits on the site of a former avocado grove, which he said explains the staining in the soil that tested positive for human blood.

He explained that Paul and Kristen, quote, parted ways, that's the truth, that's the simple answer, end quote, and said that the alleged burial site under Ruben Flores' deck is, quote, the most inaccessible spot on his property, end quote. Misik also argued that the Flores family would not have moved a body in February of 2020 because that was, quote, after the podcast came out. alleging that Ruben Flores was under surveillance 24-7. Mr. Lambert's tentacles reach far and wide.

He said that the prosecution's witnesses quote, aren't coming here to give you the truth. They're coming here to make sure someone is convicted. End quote. Misik followed this by telling the jury that Ruben Flores played sports in high school, joined the military, and coached Little League. He's never done anything wrong in his life.

In closing, he warned the jury, quote, don't be fooled, be skeptical. At the end of this trial, Kristen Smart will still be missing, and we're not going to know what happened. End quote.

Forty minutes after Mesick's opening statement concluded, Paul and Rubin's jurors were brought into the courtroom for the first time together. In all, 39 jurors, since one of Rubin's had to be replaced with an alternate, on July 15th. Paul's jury, who mostly appear to be less than 35 years old, sat in the jury box on the left side of the courtroom. Ruben's jury, who mostly appear to be over 50 years old,

filled the entire left side of the courtroom audience seating. On the right side of the room, the Smart family were seated first. Kristen's parents, her siblings, and their spouses. friends of Kristen's, and friends of her parents. The next row, reserved for members or supporters of the Flores family, was empty. Five members of the media and five members of the public filled out the last three rows. In another courtroom upstairs, dozens more watched on a projector screen.

In the interest of getting out weekly updates over the weekends when I'm not in the courtroom, I'm going to provide a brief overview of each witness's testimony. For more in-depth coverage of each witness, I'll be posting on Twitter and Instagram throughout each court day, as time allows. The prosecution's first witness was Kristen's mother, Denise Smart.

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Puvrell established through Denise that the Smart family were tight-knit, and that Kristen was the ambitious eldest child, close with her two younger siblings, quote, their biggest cheerleader. When Kristen moved to San Luis Obispo in the fall of 1995 to attend Cal Poly, Denise said the family stayed in touch through regular Sunday phone calls.

She said Kristen had expressed that she didn't feel Cal Poly was the right fit for her, but that the family had encouraged her to finish out her freshman year. After a phone call on Sunday, May 5th, Denise said she wrote a, quote, buckle-up buttercup letter to Kristen, urging her to take actions to correct the things she didn't like about her life at Cal Poly, rather than just complaining about them.

On Friday, May 24th, Denise said she came home to find a message from Kristen on the answering machine, where she sounded excited and said she had good news that she would tell them about during their Sunday phone call. That call... on May 26th, never came. After receiving a phone call from Cal Poly police on Tuesday, May 28th, Denise said she called the Muir Hall resident advisor, the Cal Poly president's office.

San Luis Obispo Police Department, who told her they didn't have jurisdiction on campus. San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office, who also said they didn't have jurisdiction on campus. an FBI office in Los Angeles, where she spoke to an agent who offered to call Cal Poly himself. The agent called back to say that the Cal Poly police declined the FBI's offer to assist.

Denise concluded, quote, On cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Sanger asked Denise, quote, He asked why Kristen didn't graduate directly from high school, going to a junior college before she transferred to Cal Poly. Denise explained that Kristen actually graduated a semester early, in December of 1994, attending junior college until June of 1995. Sanger focused on Kristen's difficulties at Cal Poly, asking about jobs she lost and disputes she may have had with roommates.

He asked if Denise was, quote, aware that Kristen went missing in Hawaii, which Purrell objected to on hearsay, relevance, and 402 grounds. For future reference, a 402 objection... means that the question violates one of the judge's previous rulings made during pretrial motions. The judge sustained this objection, which appeared to confuse Sanger, prompting him to ask, On which grounds, Your Honor?

Judge O'Keefe responded, quote, all of them. Sanger then published Denise's May 5th letter to Kristen on the courtroom projector, which he asked her about line by line. Denise said she couldn't recall specifics about everything she referenced in the letter, saying quote, I didn't expect to be talking about this letter 26 years later. Sanger also asked several times about a visit Kristen made to a medical center in Sacramento over the spring of 1996 to refill a Ritalin prescription.

asking Denise if Kristen weighed closer to 160 pounds, rather than the 145 listed on her missing posters. Puvrel responded, quote, I object to this entire line of questioning. Relevance? Judge O'Keefe sustained. Sanger asked for a brief sidebar with the judge, and after returning to the courtroom said, quote, based on that ruling, I have no further questions, end quote.

Mesick's cross-examination of Denise quickly grew hostile when he said of her letter to Kristen, quote, It's a good letter. Excellent penmanship. Only a few spelling errors. That's okay. End quote. He followed this up by saying, We're trying to get the truth from you, and it's like pulling teeth. Denise Smart left the stand at 2.30pm and was followed by her son Matt.

Matt said it's difficult to put into words just how close the Smart family was in 1996. Quote, We were your classic family. You work hard, you play hard. End quote. He said that his older sister Kristen was present at his sporting events, quote, in every way possible, and described the smart family home as a happy one, even once the dynamic shifted when Kristen left for college.

Quote, we found ways to cheer each other on from afar. End quote. Puvril asked Matt about a note Kristen wrote him, which he says was emblematic of the relationship they had. Sanger objected to the note being published, saying it was an appeal to passion. Judge O'Keefe asked to read the note, and then overruled the objection, allowing it to be shown to the jury. The note

handwritten on a napkin, offered Matt $100,000 in the future if he would stop making so much noise in the family's small hotel room. Signed, XOXO, Kristen. On cross-examination, Sanger asked Matt why he never went to visit Kristen in Hawaii over the summer of 1995 if they were so close. Matt dry and annoyed, responded that he was only 15 years old at the time, and had no way to visit her there. Things grew more tense from there, as Sanger asked questions about Kristen's struggles,

and Matt responded firmly that Kristen was a very typical teenager. At one point, someone in the audience quietly snorted at one of the exchanges, and Sanger asked the judge to admonish the audience for their reactions. Instead, Judge O'Keefe called for a recess and asked to speak to Sanger in the hallway. During Misik's cross-examination of Matt Smart,

He asked if the family had used dowsers to look for Kristen. Matt recalled one individual who attempted to use dowsing in his search for Kristen's body, but added, quote, We needed info, and we were willing to take whatever help we could get. End quote. Misik asked if Matt had any direct knowledge of what happened to his sister. Matt responded, quote, only that I haven't seen or heard from her since May of 1996. End quote.

The state's next witness was Stan Smart, Kristen's father, who said that he spent a great deal of time in San Luis Obispo County looking for his daughter's remains, crawling through culverts, and walking along the highway. I could have been a tour guide. In his search, he estimated that he spoke to around a thousand people and that thousands more helped to search for Kristen. Deputy D.A. Purell asked, quote,

Did you ever see the defendants, Paul and Ruben Flores, out looking for your daughter? Stan said no. Stan said he eventually learned that Paul Flores was the last person seen with his daughter. and that he was refusing to cooperate with investigators. Stan said he drove to Rubin's house over the summer of 1996, hoping to talk to him. As he got out of his truck, he said Rubin came out on his driveway,

and when Stan introduced himself, Rubin replied, quote, you better get out of here, or someone might get shot. Sanger and Misik's cross-examinations of Stan revolved mostly around this encounter. Misik suggested that Stan had been warned by an attorney not to go anywhere near Ruben's property and that Stan had gone anyway. Misik suggested that at 6'5", and standing on the street above the house,

Stan had intimidated Ruben. Sanger asked several questions about where Stan had parked his truck, which Stan said he left in the middle of the street, more than 20 feet away from Ruben's house. Sanger also asked who was with him in the truck. Stan said he was alone, and Sanger asked, quote, was the podcaster Chris Lambert there with you? Stan laughed and responded, I don't think so.

On another occasion, Stan said he drove by Ruben's house and saw the family loading a U-Haul truck in the driveway. Fearing that they might be moving out of the area, or worse, relocating his daughter's remains, he followed them on the freeway as they drove south. Sanger asked Stan if a reporter was with him on this occasion, and Stan said he can't recall. Sanger asked, quote, That you don't remember? Stan laughed. Quote, no, nobody had to instruct me on that. End quote.

The rest of the cross-examination revolved around a flyer, which Sanger asked Stan if he had made. The flyer has a picture of Paul Flores under the headline, Warning. and says that Paul has refused to cooperate with investigators after being the last person to walk home with Kristen Smart before she went missing. Stan said he did not make the flyer, but may have helped distribute them at some point.

Misik accused Stan of, quote, not being very friendly during his cross-examination, and Stan responded that Misik's tone and questions were argumentative. The state's next witness.

was a former Cal Poly student named Vanessa, who lived in Muir Hall, two doors down from Kristen Smart, in the spring of 1996. She testified that she and Kristen, along with their dorm mates Margarita, Annika, and Kendra hung out a lot that spring and attended several parties together. At one of those parties, she said Paul Flores approached their group and attempted to make small talk with Kristen, who was polite to him.

but uninterested. Later on, she said she saw Paul 20 feet across the room, staring at Kristen intently for several minutes in a way that made her feel very uncomfortable. Vanessa also testified that Kristen said she was planning to stay in San Luis Obispo over Memorial Day weekend, and would have informed her if she had decided to go somewhere else. Sanger's cross-examination of Vanessa

focused on why she had not come forward until February of 2022. Vanessa said she was interviewed by the FBI during the initial investigation and was not approached again until earlier this year. In 1996, she identified a photo of Paul Flores as the person she had seen staring at Kristen at a party. Misik asked Vanessa, quote,

You believe Paul Flores is guilty, and you're here to convict him, correct? Puvrell objected that the question was argumentative, and the judge sustained. The state's next witness was Kendra. a former Cuesta College student who attended the party on Crandall Way on May 24, 1996. Kendra said that at that party, she was asking around for some gum when Paul Flores offered her some. While they were talking,

She said Paul started to kiss her, and she pushed him away as someone yelled for them to, quote, get a room. After asking again if he had any gum, she said Paul led her out to the side yard, presumably to get gum from his car. Once they were alone, she said that Paul grabbed her arms and tried to kiss her again. She said she pushed him away and went back into the house to find her friends.

Kendra said that at some point she saw an extremely tall girl walk into the party, who she later learned was Kristen Smart. Later on, she said she saw Kristen fall down in a hallway. and observed Paul Flores standing over her. Kendra said she took Kristen out to the front patio and sat with her for a few minutes to make sure she was okay. She described Kristen as, quote, unstable. and said she didn't seem sober. She said she warned Kristen, quote, Kendra said by the end of the night,

She noticed Kristen was laying down near the driveway, and she kneeled by her feet to ask her if she had a ride home. She said Kristen replied that she did have a ride. During Sanger's cross-examination, He asked Kendra how much she had had to drink on the night of the party. Kendra said she and her friends had 7-Eleven Slurpees with rum in them. Sanger then grilled Kendra on the percentage of alcohol in the rum, which she said she didn't know. Well, was it 86 proof?

Sanger then published on the courtroom projector screenshots of Kendra's Instagram profile, asking her if she followed the Your Own Backyard podcast page, and asking why she had changed her profile picture to a purple hand signal. in August of 2021. Kindra said the symbol was a shorthand way of showing support for Kristen Smart.

Sanger asked about an alarm clock photo frame on Facebook, asking if the alarm clock was code for quote, TikTok, TikTok, time is running out, MF-er. Kendra said she had never heard the phrase before. Sanger asked Kendra if it appeared to her that Chris Lambert, the podcaster, is dedicated to Paul Flores being convicted. Kendra answered, quote, I believe he's dedicated to getting justice for Kristen Smart's parents.

End quote. Trial resumed on Monday, July 25th, with Kristen Smart's sister Lindsay being called to the stand. Lindsay was in 8th grade in May of 1996. and said her 8th grade graduation that June was the first big event that Kristen didn't show up for. Lindsay is married now, with three daughters, and testified that Kristen did not attend her wedding.

or any of her children's birthdays. Sanger's cross-examination focused on Kristen's hair, which she dyed brown in the winter of 1996. He asked if Kristen ever shared that she was and Lindsay said she didn't. Mesick's cross-examination consisted of just one question. Quote, Do you have any personal knowledge of what happened to your sister on Memorial Day weekend of 1996?

Lindsay asked what he meant by personal knowledge, and Misik clarified, Sanger objected to Misik's question, taking issue with the phrase, could have.

and Misik withdrew the question. The state's next witness was Margarita Campos, Kristen's mere-hauled dorm mate and closest friend in May of 1996. Margarita said she and Kristen spent Friday, May 24th in her dorm room, listening to music and making mixtapes, before they left the dorm with a few other women, who were on their way to a small party at a house off campus.

At that small house party, Margarita said she and Kristen each had a single can of Budweiser and sat next to each other bored for a few hours. When they left that party, Margarita said she and Kristen were dropped off near the intersection of California and Foothill Boulevard, while the other women went home. Even though Kristen begged her to come look for a party up the street, Margarita said she decided to walk back to her dorm.

and gave Kristen her key so she could get into the building if she stayed out past the time when the RA locked the doors. She said the last time she saw Kristen, she was walking towards Crandall Way, completely sober. and wearing board shorts, a gray baby tee, and red puma shoes. Margarita said she's replayed the moment a lot in her mind over the years, and regrets leaving her alone. Quote,

I shouldn't have left her by herself, and she shouldn't have left me by myself. We should have stuck together." Margarita also testified that she knew Paul Flores from his time working at the campus grocery store, where he would stare at her and make her uncomfortable. On one of those occasions, she said Kristen was with her.

and she saw Paul staring at her too. On cross-examination, Sanger asked Margarita how she could be sure that Kristen only had one beer at the first party they went to that night. Margarita said she and Kristen were sitting right next to each other the entire time because they didn't know anyone else at the house.

Sanger also focused on a report Margarita made four days after Kristen went missing, when she told a Cal Poly police officer that she had received a phone call in the middle of the night, which she believed could have been from Kristen. Margarita said she hadn't slept for more than 48 hours and wanted to believe that it could have been Kristen. Sanger replied, quote,

Is it fair to say that after the podcast and the webpage and all those things, that you want it to be Paul Flores now? Margarita answered, I want to know what happened to my friend. During Mesick's cross-examination, he asked Margarita, quote, She was funny about her clothes, wasn't she? Did Kristen have a reputation of not washing her clothes? End quote.

Purell objected to the question on relevance grounds, and the judge sustained. Misik also asked Margarita if she was aware that Paul Flores, quote, sold barbecue tri-tip at the campus store.

The state's next witness was a former Cal Poly basketball player named Ross, who also attended the party at Crandall Way on May 24th. There, he said he had a short conversation with Kristen at the bar about surfing. During the conversation, he said he noticed Paul Flores staring at Kristen intently from across the living room.

Later, Ross said he saw Kristen and Paul standing together in a back corner of the room, and Paul had his arm around her. At one point, he said he heard a quote, loud commotion. and looked over to see that Kristen had fallen off a quote little washing machine or something that she had been sitting on, and a handful of people tried to help her up. Ross said Paul was right next to Kristen when she fell.

On cross-examination, Sanger pointed out that in his 2022 interview with DA investigator J.T. Camp, Ross said Paul was hanging by Kristen, but never mentioned that he had his arm around her. On redirect, Puvrell showed Ross a detective's report from 1996 and asked if it refreshed his memory about what he saw at the party. Ross answered, quote, he had his arm around her and they were kind of hugging a little bit, end quote.

Sanger asked Ross if it was fair to say that you can't really say you recall if he had his arm around her. Ross answered quote, no, because he had his arm around her. End quote. During Mesick's cross-examination, he asked Ross, quote, You saw Kristen Smart sitting on the washing machine with Paul Flores? End quote. Sanger objected that the question misstated the testimony. and the judge sustained. The state's final witness of the day was Cheryl Anderson, whose last name has changed since 1996.

Cheryl was the last person to see Kristen Smart and Paul Flores as they walked towards the dorms after the Crandall Way party. Cheryl said that at one point during that party, Paul Flores put his arm around her, which she said was quote, Not welcome. Later, when the party was breaking up, she realized her friends had left, so her friend Tim offered to walk her back to her dorm. Before they left,

Cheryl said Tim found Kristen laying somewhere in the front yard and helped her up. She said Kristen was, quote, very intoxicated, her speech was slurred, and she was having trouble standing up, end quote. So Tim said the three of them would walk back to campus together. As they started their walk, Cheryl said Paul Flores, quote, appeared sort of suddenly and said he would walk with them.

Once they got a little closer to the campus, Cheryl said she told Tim that he could go back to the house because she wasn't going to be walking alone anymore. Once Tim left, Cheryl said Kristen was unsteady and leaning against Paul. who had his arm around her waist to hold her up. She said Kristen was, quote, end quote. Cheryl said on the walk back to the dorms, Paul stopped with Kristen several times.

rubbing her arms up and down, and told Cheryl to go on ahead without them. Cheryl said she waited for them, because she didn't want to walk alone. Cheryl said as they approached the intersection of Perimeter Road and Grand Avenue, Kristen was still struggling to walk and relying on Paul to stand.

Cheryl's dorm building was to the right and up Grand Avenue, while the red brick dorms where Kristen and Paul lived were further up perimeter. Cheryl said she asked if he was going to, quote, get her back to her dorm room safely. And Paul said he would. She said Paul then asked her for a kiss, which she declined. He then asked for a hug.

which she also declined, before asking one more time if he would get Kristen back to her dorm room safely. Paul said he would. Cheryl said the last time she saw Paul and Kristen, they were walking east. along Perimeter Road. Puvrell pointed out on a map that east would lead to Paul's dorm, Santa Lucia Hall, and that Kristen's dorm room in Muir Hall was easier to access from Grand Avenue.

On cross-examination, Sanger asked Cheryl if she asked Paul to take Kristen to her dorm or to her dorm room, as different statements she made over the years use different terms. Cheryl said she meant the terms interchangeably, and said, quote, he needed to take her all the way to her room, end quote. Sanger asked Cheryl if Kristen was, quote, hanging on several guys at the party, end quote.

Puvrel objected on relevance grounds, and the judge sustained. Sanger was silent for a moment before asking the judge, quote, Can we have a brief discussion? Judge O'Keefe replied, quote, You can proceed, Mr. Sanger. Sanger asked again, quote, But I'm talking about this party, end quote. Judge O'Keefe replied more firmly, You can proceed, Mr. Sanger.

Sanger asked Cheryl if she told Detective Henry Stewart in 1996 that Kristen was using Paul for support, quote, but she could have walked on her own, end quote. After showing her Stewart's report to refresh her memory, Cheryl pointed out that her full quote said, She could have walked on her own, but it would have been difficult. Misik asked during his cross-examination what Cheryl was wearing that night compared to what Kristen Smart was wearing.

Purell objected on relevance grounds, and Misik withdrew the question. Misik suggested that Muir Hall was very close to the intersection where Cheryl separated from Kristen and Paul, quote, close enough that you could hit it with a football. implying that Paul had fulfilled his promise to get Kristen back to her dorm. Cheryl said, quote, the intersection wasn't getting her home, end quote.

Mesick said Cheryl must have felt like it was safe to leave Kristen with Paul. Cheryl responded, quote, I didn't think anything horrible was going to happen. End quote. Cheryl was excused at 4.31pm, and testimony was scheduled to resume the next morning. Instead, on Tuesday morning once we were allowed into the courtroom, Judge O'Keefe informed everyone that one of Ruben Flores' jurors

had an emergency situation, and couldn't attend. Since the rest of week two was already scheduled to be dark in the courtroom, the decision was made to cancel the proceeding. Week three is scheduled to begin. on August 1st. a special bonus series of the Your Own Backyard Podcast. For more updates, go to yourownbackyardpodcast.com. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage for links to our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.